Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo declared on Monday that he will seek a second term in elections that have been postponed to November due to logistical and financial challenges.
“I will be a candidate, without a doubt, and I am going to win right from the first round,” Embalo told an AFP correspondent as he returned from a state visit to Russia.
Embalo, who was sworn in for a five-year term on February 27, 2020, following a controversial election, faces opposition claims that his term expired last Thursday. These claims led to a strike organized by opposition groups, although security forces deployed in Bissau limited its impact.
Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony with a population of around two million, has long struggled with political instability, including a series of coups since its independence in 1974.
In December 2023, Embalo dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament after armed clashes, which he described as an attempted coup. He initially scheduled early legislative elections for November 2024 but postponed them indefinitely via presidential decree. The elections are now set to take place on November 30.
